28mm figures, part 3

Quite some time ago, I received another small order from Ebor, and finally here are some pics...

On the left, WSSO01 Officer of Foot, and on the right, Drummer stood with loose head  WSSSD03.  The head on the drummer has already been glued down.  The pose of the drummer seems a bit awkward from this view but that might be the result of gluing the head down at an angle!

On the left, WSSO03 Officer/Ensign of Foot, and on the right, Officer/Ensign of Foot WSSO02.  The halfpikes are separate pieces.

These figures are very nice; the details on the cuffs and wigs are impressive.  I also enjoy the facial expressions.  Now, to just get some paint on them...

A very brief update

Just received another small package of miniatures from Ebor, enough to fill out a small 16-piece battalion.

Pics will be up on the week-end!

A long time...

... since I have posted!

Sadly I do not have much to show for the time.  Work and other obstacles were in the way, but I have made a purchase of a very good looking (but sadly not perfect) nicker miniature and a nice miniature for a gudgeon.  Once I have the camera ready and workbench sorted, I will post pics.

Decision time

One of the key points that always bugs me about any project is the ultimate goal; i.e. what do I see myself doing with these miniatures when the project is mature.  There are two directions that I can foresee (and they are not mutually exclusive).  One would be the grand skirmish - small quantities of troops with a wide variety of troop types collected.  The second would be larger battles, where a player would be pushing around groups of miniatures representing battalions.  Miniatures-wise, there is nothing preventing either course, except maybe the need for specialized individuals like wits or scourges (and of course proper nickers!).  There is another aspect, mostly peculiar to the battalion-sized units, that is necessary, and that is flags (spandarions).  One could get away with few or no flags for skirmishes, but with battalions, part of the spectacle (for me at least) is seeing lines of colorful troops with equally colorful spandarions fluttering away in the distance.  The addition of multiple spandarions changes the shopping list that one needs when looking at miniatures somewhat, and I try to carefully plan my purchases.

So, what is the ultimate goal of this project?  Despite the added time and expense, I am aiming for the battalion route.  However, since I have mounted my miniatures singly - by a combination of choice, luck, and hard experience (my Tékumel miniatures suffer a bit from some poor choices but that experience has paid off here) - I can play skirmishes as I progress towards the battalions goal.

Now that the goal is set, another key decision looms...  What forces are involved?  When I first imagined this project, the vision was about a struggle between some of the Soutlands realms (Brandenbrass, Boschenburg, etc.) and their eastern neighbors (Burgundia, Gott, etc.)  I am not so certain of that now, at least in the large-battle mode, although I can see small skirmishes happening between them.  Another direction would be North, with the Haacobin Empire, with Soutland support, vying off against the Turkemen.  There is some mention of this in Foundling.  The third direction is West, between the Haacobin Empire et al versus the Sedorner Kings, briefly mentioned in Factotum.  Each of these directions has its own merits - miniatures can be proxied for each new realm - and pitfalls - a dearth of hard information on each of the Turkemen and Sedorner Kings.

So, that is where I stand now.  My newest miniatures are mounted and primed, just waiting for me to decide on their colors...

28mm figures, part 2

My Ebor Miniatures order arrived a few days ago, and here they are:

From the left:   WSSMS01 Sergeant of Musketeers; WSSM01 Musketeer stood firing; WSSM02 Musketeer kneeling firing; WSSM03 Musketeer kneeling
                       

From the left:   WSSM04 Musketeer presenting arms; WSSM05 Musketeer marching; WSSM06 Musketeer marching;  WSSM07 Musketeer advancing high porte;  WSSM08 Musketeer marching

From the left:   WSSM09 Musketeer marching;  WSSM10 Musketeer marching;  WSSHM01 Headless musketeer marching;  WSSHM02 Headless musketeer marching

WSSMHS01  Head Sprue

I like the Ebor selection very much.  In particular, the faces stand out in their expressions.  And with the addition of the headless marching versions, there is a wide assortment of poses, however slight, to add life to your units.

Here's a pic with a Wargames Factory musketeer.  There are very similar in height and heft, with the WGF muskeeter slightly taller.  The two biggest differences are in the weapon and the face.  The WGF musket does not have much detail as compared to the one on the Ebor musketeers, and the WGF musket is very slender, delicate even.  The faces are quite different also, with the WGF figures having an odd shape to their eye sockets.  The Ebor faces look much more natural.  WGF does have a wide variety of heads on their sprues, but the recent release of the 'headless' Ebor musketeers along with their head sprue gives a lot more variety in marching poses.

One last note - the sergeant is a two-piece set; the halberd is not cast in the hand.  Also, the headless musketeers do not come with the head sprue; you need to purchase it separately.

28mm figures, part 1

Thanks for the quick shipment from The Warstore, I have a box of Wargames Factory WSS plastic miniatures.  Here is a couple of quick pics:

These do not look too bad so far; I have to admit that I originally planned to use the box just for bits for conversions, but I will put a few together and see how they look.  I did notice right away that the weapons, especially the muskets on the marching miniatures, do look rather thin and might not be capable of much handling.  On the other hand, the amount of pieces on each sprue (12 sprues per box) is amazing.

Purchases

Well, I have finally stuck myself into the fray and ordered some miniatures - 1 box of infantry produced by Wargames Factory, and about a dozen single infantry figures from Ebor Miniatures.  The WGF box should be here soon...

Rolling on...

After quite a bit of distraction from this project, I am ready to give it another go.  Perhaps I just needed to set it aside to let my thoughts come together for the right approach, or most likely it is the promise of some hobby funding for my fast-approaching birthday!

I am trying to put together an order for some 28mm miniatures and trying to decide between Ebor Miniatures and Front Rank Figures.  Both companies produce beautiful miniatures.  Ebor is the newcomer, with a limited selection at the moment, with many new figures to be produced soon.  Front Rank is the well-established standard to measure all others.  There is still some time before the funds are available, so I will research it some more and get some input from my chief artistic officer (my lovely wife)!

The naval aspect is also being reviewed.  I am wondering if I should stay at 1/1200 scale or move to another, perhaps 1/900 or 1/1800, although the largest rams would be 'very' large even in 1/1200 scale.  Fleet actions or skirmishes between squadrons will be the deciding factor and I am still working on that - either one works for my gaming table!